Category Archives: Linux Mint

If you’re looking for a simple alarm application in Ubuntu 12.04/12.10 (or Ubuntu based distributions such as Linux Mint 13), then you must try Cuckoo.

Cuckoo – A simple Alarm App for Ubuntu!

it’s a very simple and easy to use alarm app – with all the basic features such as creating/editing/deleting alarms, custom sound, etc. The UI looks very intuitive and cool. It’s really a great app for those who like apps with minimal features.

You can easily control the app from Unity launcher or indicator. Alarm management is also very easy as you can easily create/save alarm lists. Alarms can be toggled from the apps dashboard, creating alarm, editing existing one or deleting is just a matter of click.

Install Cuckoo in Ubuntu 12.04

You can find it in Ubuntu Software Center or fire up a terminal and type –

sudo apt-get install cuckoo

If it’s not there in package repository (in Ubuntu 12.10 or in older version of Ubuntu or in similar distributions such as Linux Mint), then install Cuckoo through the PPA.

There are lot of text editors available for Ubuntu / Linux Mint. gedit is the default text editor for GNOME based distributions, it’s very easy to use, you can start using it (effectively) – in minutes. Kate is a similar text editor for KDE distro.

Emacs and Vim are full featured and very powerful text editors but the learning curve is very steep (although free online tutorials are available to help you if you stuck). If you hate using mouse while programming/writing/.. then Emacs (or Vim) is a great choice for you, in a along run, with more productivity and fun. Both Emacs and Vim can be used as a GUI app or a terminal app. Nano is a lightweight – command line editor.

Sublime Text is a proprietary text editor, with a lot of cool features. It looks very similar to TextMate (one of the most popular text editor on Mac OS X).

UI prototypes and sketches/mock-ups are really very useful in early stage of Application development (Mobile, Web or Desktop App), it works as a great communication medium between the designers, developers, customers and users. Most of the UI designers/developers prefer – starting with sketches before jumping into the code (HTML, CSS etc). Some designers prefer sketching on paper while some prefer using some tools or both.

Sketching on paper is a good practice but if you use prototyping tools, then you can easily create great-looking mock-ups, much faster and of course it’s easy to share and collaborate (for example, in a presentation to your fellow developers, VCs or investors). For Ubuntu, native tools are also available, or you can just use the web based mockup tools.

Pencil – Free and Open Source ‘Sketching Tool’

it’s a free and open source sketching/prototyping tool. it’s a cross-platform application, available in stand-alone form or as a Firefox Add-on. Pencil has lot of great features – UI elements, icons, etc that allow you to easily create sketches for desktop and web apps.

The sketches can be easily exported to pdf, png, odt or templates (such as HTML Templates, but first you need to install the templates, Go to pencil -> Tools -> Manage Export Templates and locate the template downloaded from official site).

Installing Pencil Prototyping Tool in Ubuntu / Linux Mint

Download This Add-On (Latest stable version : 1.3.4) and Open with Mozilla Firefox (requires version 4+) to install the add-on. Then restart the browser and go to Firefox -> Tools -> Pencil Sketching and start creating cool sketches as you want.

Other prototyping tools that you may should checkout

Keynotopia

If you want to quickly create mockups for you web/mobile apps, then you should try Keynotopia. They have lots of awesome templates and wireframing components – so you can transform your ideas into a prototype – in minutes. It works with Microsoft Power Point, Open Office and Apple Keynote.

MockingBird

it’s a cool web application, for creating mock-ups and prototypes. it’s easy to use and it has nice widgets and icons to sketch UI quickly. The application is based on Cappuccino, an open source framework for creating desktop like apps in a browser; so you don’t need any flash player or something to use this app. The personal plans starts at $9 but there is also a free plan to get started with (1 project with 10 pages).

For Applications management, Linux Mint 13 has Software Manager by default. Synaptic Package Manager is also there, but most beginners prefer Software Manager (over the synaptic or command line utility).

In Ubuntu, beginners prefer – Ubuntu Software Center, it’s easy to use and it has a lot of exciting features. Linux Mint 13 is based on Ubuntu 12.04 LTS, so most of the ubuntu apps works seamlessly on Linux Mint. Ubuntu Software Center is also available for Linux Mint, via the PPA. So if you’re looking for a more user friendly App management software in Linux Mint, then you should try Ubuntu Software Center.

Installing Ubuntu Software Center in Linux Mint 13

In Linux Mint 13 (Maya), the software center is already available in package repository, so it can be installed in one command (without any external PPA or something, app size is around 12 MB) –

Some of the new features/improvements are –

available in a new Local language – Maithili (it’s my native language )

Updating to Firefox 15

In Ubuntu 12.04 or similar distributions such as Linux Mint, you can get the latest version of firefox – with a normal update. So you don’t need to add any external PPA or download/install it manually, unless you also want to try beta versions or daily builds. So just open the Update Manager and click on Install Updates to update all programs (recommended) or just select the Firefox browser from the list and update.